Valerie Teicher

I’ve been a huge fan of Tei Shi for a couple of years now, first hearing her late night on Rage. ‘Bassically’ was the Song that had me singing (screaming) and dancing along immediately, so I rushed to check out the rest of her stuff. At that point she’d only released two EPs, Saundade and Verde, but I adored every single song. Her voice is angelic but strong (as you can probably tell if you’ve listened to the last half of ‘Bassically’, she can really belt out those notes) and musically, she falls into the alternative/indie pop kind of genre, but it’s hard to classify her exactly. In her simplistic, but beautiful song ‘See Me’, her style and voice shows her gentle side, but again, songs like ‘Bassically’ and her cover of Beyonce’s ‘No Angel’ gives us a glimpse into how strong both her voice, and herself as a person is. 

‘Verde’ was the EP that had me falling in love with her, and will always hold a special place in my heart. Like I said above, the first song I heard of hers was ‘Bassically’, which to this day has over 3 million views on youtube, and rightfully so. It’s a catchy, fun but unique pop song that’s admittedly hard to sing along to, but only because she has a rare ability to perfectly belt out those notes (which most of us, though try, just can’t do). The whole EP offers both dance-ier tracks like ‘Bassically’ and a more smooth, calm ‘Go Slow’ (another personal favourite of mine), but songs like ‘Can’t Be Sure’ and ‘Get It’ stick to her more indie, ‘vocal focused’ roots. I also love how she named it after the colour green, because if you’re like me, you see songs and albums as colours, and this is definitely a ‘green’ EP.

While I adore the indie vibe of her first two EPs, the direction she took for her debut album was what I was always hoping she’d do; purely unique pop. The first single from it, ‘Keep Running’ was probably the best choice to introduce the world to this new era of Tei Shi. It’s catchy, but not boring and meaningless like most ‘pop’ songs get after the first few plays. To me, it’s timeless, and will continue to be just as fun, catchy, and heartfelt as the first time I heard it.

If we’re still describing her work in colours, while Verde was green; organic, lush simple and beautiful, Crawl Space is purple; understated and unique, but still beautiful and interesting. It keeps you coming back for more, because you haven’t heard anything quite like it. Sure, it follows generic pop structures, but she has that magic only few artists have (like Bat For Lashes and Florence + The Machine). Every single song from it is amazing, and I love the addition of the adorable tapes, her ‘child self’ (I’m not 100% sure if it’s actually her or not) describing herself as a ‘bad girl’ and wishing she could be like Britney Spears. It really makes the album personal, which especially for a debut, is exactly what you want. You want something that makes you feel connected with the artist.

I did say that every single song is amazing, but my absolute favourites, other than the two singles ‘Keep Running’ and ‘How Far’ (both of which have amazing, creative music videos too, the whole aesthetic of this Tei Shi era is so cool, she and whoever worked on it pairs visuals and fashion with her music so fucking well), I’ve found myself really attached to ‘Baby’, ‘Say You Do’, ‘Your World’ and ‘Sleepy’. Those are the ones I’ve noticed myself humming all the time, at least.

Bas(s)ically, Tei Shi is a badass, creative and talented woman with one of the most beautiful voices I’ve ever heard. I haven’t had the chance to see her live, but if you do get the opportunity, definitely go check her out. I have no doubt that you will end up falling in love with her (or falling in love with her more). Go buy her album! And support your local bad girls!

None of these pictures are mine, I do not claim ownership over any images used in this post.